Zeelenberg "Not The Only Candidate" For Lorenzo Management Role

Submitted by David Emmett on Fri, 2009-12-25 15:21

News travels fast in the age of electronic media, sometimes so fast that it's ahead of the facts. After the Motorcycle News reported that Yamaha's World Supersport boss Wilco Zeelenberg was to become Jorge Lorenzo's new team manager, Zeelenberg himself has denied that any such decision has been taken. "I can't deny that Yamaha have spoken to me about this new position, but I'm definitely not the only candidate and a final decision is yet to be made," Zeelenberg told the Dutch website Racesport.nl.

Zeelenberg expressed his surprise at the rate at which the story had spread. "It's incredible how quickly the media publish these kinds of reports, and where they get them from, because it's a very long way from happening," the Dutchman told Racesport. What surprised him most was that nobody had checked with him, Zeelenberg said. "Up until this phone call [with Racesport.nl, Ed.] no journalists have called me to ask if the story is true or not. The story that I have already been given the job as Lorenzo's new team manager is completely wrong."

Zeelenberg also denied that Yamaha's World Supersport effort was completely finished. Though the factory team has been disbanded and most of its members laid off, the man who helped Cal Crutchlow to the 2009 WSS title still held out hope that a private team could be found to run Yamaha's World Supersport progam for them. The Stiggy Racing team had originally been expected to take on that task, but a chronic lack of funding forced the team to fold at the end of December. According to Zeelenberg, there was still a possibility that alternatives could be found.

Zeelenberg's future is to be settled in the middle of January, he told Racesport.nl. "We should know more by the middle of January," he said. "Until then, there is no news about my personal position with Yamaha. I'm skiing with my family right now, and we'll see what we are going to do next season early next year."

I have to say that, although some of the bike news editors can get a little excitable over at Motorcycle News, Matthew Birt, MCN's MotoGP correspondent, is one of the very best journalists working in the paddock and is scarily correct about 99 times out of 100.